FIFA 20's 10 best players list crowns Lionel Messi as king of this year's beautiful game

Liquid football from the Argentinian star

The stats don't lie: if you want to build the best possible team for FIFA 20 when it releases, you're going to need to get Lionel Messi in your squad.

EA Sports has released the player ratings for the top 100 footballers on its in-game roster, and the Argentinean megastar has come out on top.

While last year Messi shared the top spot with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo (with each enjoying a rating of 94 out of 100), this year Ronaldo has dropped a point down to 93, while Messi's score of 94 remains unchanged.

There will be little to separate the two however – the stats key to Ronaldo's usual position on the pitch are ferocious, so either will be formidable to face. Remember that Ronaldo's club team, Juventus, are not officially licensed in this year's FIFA 20 game, with that honor going to PES 2020 – one has to wonder if that licensing disagreement has hurt Ronaldo's rating a touch.

The top 10 FIFA 20 players

Looking to round out your FIFA 20 squad? Then you're going to be wanting to secure the following players for your team:

1. Messi

2. Ronaldo

3. Neymar

4. Hazard

5. De Bruyne

6. Oblak

7. van Dijk

8. Salah

9. Modric

10. ter Stegen

Note that Liverpool's superb Champion's League performance last year has seen Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah enter the top ten this season, making Liverpool a particularly tough opponent in FIFA 20.

On the other end of the scale, Real Madrid's lacklustre last season sees two of its top players, Sergio Ramos and Tony Kroos, plummet out of the top ten.

With the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Project Scarlett looming, FIFA 20 will likely be something of a swansong for the franchise on this generation of consoles, before the super-powered might of their successors change the face of football sims once again. With its Volta mode and attention to detail, FIFA 20 is looking like a great point to bow out this generation.